1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an occupant protection device, and particularly to an occupant protection device that predicts a collision to protect an occupant.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various arts are proposed as an occupant protection device that protects an occupant in the event of a collision. For example, related arts include: occupant protection devices that protect an occupant by suitably adjusting the posture of an occupant by tilting a seatback forward if the seatback is reclined in an collision prediction state; and an occupant protection device that protects an occupant by retracting a seatbelt in an collision prediction state.
The occupant protection device of this type has been described in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 11-334437 (JP-A-11-334437), for example. In the art disclosed in JP-A-11-334437, the occupant protection device determines that a collision is imminent, and inclines the seatback forward to a prescribed position if the seatback is reclined beyond a prescribed range, and then retracts a seatbelt by operating a pre-tensioner.
However, in the art disclosed in JP-A-11-334437, the seatbelt is retracted after the operation of the seatback. Preferably, for a quicker operation of occupant protection, the inclination of the seatback and the retraction of the seatbelt are performed simultaneously. In the above art, electric power needed to operate the operation of the occupant protection devices increase. Therefore, control on the occupant protection device has room for improvement.